Smoltz played initially for the Class A Lakeland Tigers minor-league team, and then moved on to the Class AA Glens Falls Tigers in 1987, posting records of 7–8 and 4–10.[5] On August 12, 1987, he was traded to the Atlanta Braves, where he played on their Class AAA Richmond Braves. The 1987 Tigers were in a three-team race, chasing the Toronto Blue Jays for the AL East division lead; in need of pitching help, Detroit sent their 20-year-old prospect to the Braves for 36-year-old veteran Doyle Alexander. While Alexander did help the Tigers overtake the Blue Jays for the division title, he was out of baseball by 1989. Smoltz, on the other hand, became one of the cornerstones of the Braves franchise for the next two decades.

Smoltz made his major league debut on July 23, 1988. He posted poor statistics in a dozen starts, but in 1989 Smoltz blossomed. In 29 starts, he recorded a 12–11 record and 2.94 ERA while pitching 208 innings, and was named to the NL All-Star team. Teammate Tom Glavine also had his first good year in 1989, raising optimism about the future of Atlanta's pitching staff.

Smoltz began the 1991 season with a 2–11 record. He began seeing a sports psychologist, after which he closed out the season on a 12–2 pace,[7] helping the Braves win a tight NL West race. His winning ways continued into the 1991 National League Championship Series. Smoltz won both his starts against the Pittsburgh Pirates, capped by a complete game shutout in the seventh game, propelling the Braves to their first World Series since moving to Atlanta in 1966. Smoltz had two no-decisions against the Minnesota Twins, with a 1.26 ERA. In the seventh and deciding game, he faced his former Detroit Tiger hero, Jack Morris. Both starters pitched shutout ball for seven innings, before Smoltz was removed from the 0–0 game during a Twins threat in the eighth. Atlanta reliever Mike Stanton pitched out of the jam, getting Smoltz off the hook, and Morris eventually pitched a 10-inning complete game victory.

The next year, Smoltz won 15 regular season games and was the MVP of the 1992 National League Championship Series, winning two games. He left the seventh game trailing, but ended up with a no-decision as the Braves mounted a dramatic ninth-inning comeback win. In the World Series that year, Smoltz started two of the six games in the series, with a no-decision in Game 2 and a win with the Braves facing elimination in Game 5.

Smoltz had a 6–10 record in the strike-shortened 1994 season, and during the break, had bone chips removed from his elbow.[8] Returning as the Braves' No. 3 starter, he posted a 12–7 record in 1995. Smoltz had shaky postseason numbers, avoiding a decision despite a 6.60 ERA. But Smoltz and the Braves won the franchise's only World Series in Atlanta, thanks in great part to Maddux and Glavine, who had begun to overshadow Smoltz.

The next season, 1996, was the best of Smoltz's career. He went 24–8 with a 2.94 ERA and 276 strikeouts, including winning a franchise-record 14 straight decisions from April 9 to June 19.[8] He won the NL Cy Young Award with 26 of the 28 first-place votes. Smoltz's effectiveness in 1997 was only slightly less than his Cy Young season, but frugal run support limited him to a 15–12 record. Smoltz also received a Silver Slugger Award for his batting.

Smoltz continued to post excellent statistics in 1998 and 1999, but he was spending significant time on the disabled list and missed about a quarter of his starts. In 1999, Smoltz began experimenting with both a knuckleball and a three-quarters delivery, though he rarely used either in game situations.[9]

He underwent Tommy John surgery before the 2000 season, and missed the entire year.[10] When he was unable to perform effectively as a starter in 2001, Smoltz made a transition to the bullpen, filling a void as Atlanta's new closer down the stretch, replacing John Rocker.

In 2002, his first full season as a closer, Smoltz set a National League record with 55 saves, topping the previous mark of 53 shared by Randy Myers (1993) and Trevor Hoffman (1998). Smoltz finished third in the Cy Young Award voting; Éric Gagné equaled his record a year later with the Dodgers. Injuries limited Smoltz slightly in 2003, but he still recorded 45 saves with a 1.12 ERA in 64⅓ innings pitched. In 2004, Smoltz finished with 44 saves, but was frustrated with his inability to make an impact as a closer during another Braves' postseason loss. That year, he broke Gene Garber's franchise record of 141 career saves; his final total of 154 saves was eventually surpassed by Craig Kimbrel in 2014.

By this point, Smoltz was all that remained of the once-dominant Atlanta Braves' rotation of the 1990s. Tom Glavine had moved on to play for the Mets, a divisional rival, while Greg Maddux returned to his old team, the Chicago Cubs.

After three years as one of baseball's most dominating closers, the team's management agreed to return Smoltz to the starting rotation before the 2005 season. His renewed career as a starter began inauspiciously. He allowed six earned runs in only 1​2⁄3 innings—matching the shortest starts of his career—as the Braves were blown out on Opening Day by the Marlins. Poor run support contributed to an 0–3 start despite stronger pitching performances by Smoltz. After these initial difficulties, though, things fell into place. At the All-Star break, Smoltz was 9–5 with an ERA of 2.68 and was chosen for the 2005 NL All-Star team. Smoltz gave up a solo home run to Miguel Tejada in the second inning of the American League's 7–5 victory and was charged with the loss. For his career, he was 1–2 in All-Star games, putting him in a tie for the most losses.

Smoltz finished 2005 at 14–7, with a 3.06 ERA and 169 strikeouts while allowing less than one hit per inning. Smoltz had answered the critics who doubted he would be able to reach the 200-inning plateau after three years in the bullpen. Nonetheless, Smoltz's increased workload caused him to wear down toward the end of the season.

Despite a sore shoulder, Smoltz pitched seven innings in the Braves' 7–1 win over the Houston Astros in Game 2 of the 2005 NL Division Series; it was the only game the Braves won in the series against the eventual National League champions. The victory over Houston gave Smoltz a 13–4 record as a starter (15–4 overall) with a 2.65 ERA in the postseason. He has the second most postseason wins (15) behind only Andy Pettitte with 19. They are followed by Glavine (14) and Maddux (11).

In 2006, Smoltz finished the season with a record of 16–9, an ERA of 3.49, and 211 strikeouts. He was one of four pitchers tied for the NL lead in wins, and was third in strikeouts. The fact that the Braves bullpen blew six of Smoltz's leads in 2006 robbed him of a strong chance at a 20-win season.

Smoltz in 2007

On September 21, 2006, the Braves announced they had picked up Smoltz's $8 million contract option for the 2007 season. On April 26, 2007, Smoltz agreed to a contract extension with the Braves. The extension includes a $14 million salary for the 2008 season, a $12 million vesting option for 2009 dependent on his ability to pitch 200 innings in 2008 and a $12 or $13 million team option for 2010 dependent on his ability to pitch 200 innings in 2009.[11]

2007 was a year of reunions and milestones for Smoltz. On May 9, he faced Maddux for the first time since July 10, 1992. Smoltz earned a win in a 3–2 victory over the San Diego Padres; Maddux received no decision. On May 24, exactly 11 years to the day after recording his 100th win, Smoltz recorded his 200th win against Glavine.[12] He faced Glavine three other times, faring 3–1 overall against him. On June 27, Smoltz, Glavine and Maddux each recorded wins on the same day. On August 19, Smoltz set the Braves strikeout record by striking out the Arizona Diamondbacks' Mark Reynolds. It was his 2,913th strikeout, passing Phil Niekro on the club' all-time list; he struck out a season-high 12 in the game.[13] He finished the year 14–8 with a 3.11 ERA and 197 strikeouts. The stalwart pitcher was the only holdover on the Braves roster from their 1991 worst-to-first season until Glavine returned to the Braves after an absence of several years following the 2007 season.

On May 1, 2008, Smoltz indicated that he intended to return to being a relief pitcher. After coming off the disabled list on June 2, 2008, he blew his first save opportunity in three years. Two days later, the Braves placed him back on the disabled list. Smoltz underwent season-ending shoulder surgery on June 10, 2008.[15] His contract expired at the end of the season, and the contract offer from the Braves was not sufficient to keep him.[16]

In December 2008, several members of the Boston Red Sox organization, including pitching coach John Farrell, vice president of player personnel Ben Cherington and assistant trainer Mike Reinold, flew to Atlanta to participate in a 90-minute workout with Smoltz. Throwing for only the second time since having surgery on a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder, he threw a 50-pitch side session and showcased not only his tremendous progress since the surgery, but an arsenal of well-developed pitches which made him so successful throughout his career. He impressed the Red Sox enough during the workout that less than a month later, a one-year contract was offered by the organization.[17]

On January 13, 2009, Smoltz signed a one-year contract with the Red Sox for a reported base salary of $5.5 million with roster time incentives and miscellaneous award incentives which could net as much as $10 million.[18] He made his first start in the Red Sox rotation on June 25, allowing seven hits and five runs through five innings.[19][20] Smoltz posted a 2–5 record over eight games with an 8.32 ERA and no quality starts. He was designated for assignment on August 7 after a 13–6 loss to the New York Yankees, giving the Red Sox ten days to release or trade him, or send him to the minors.[21] The Red Sox offered Smoltz a minor league stint in order to prepare him to be placed in the bullpen, but he rejected the offer.[22] On August 17, the Red Sox released Smoltz.[23]

On August 19, 2009, Smoltz signed with the St. Louis Cardinals; he made his debut against the Padres on August 23. In his first game for the Cardinals, he went five innings, striking out nine and walking none, while setting a Cardinals franchise record by striking out seven batters in a row.[24]

That win against the Padres with the Cardinals was his only win with St. Louis that season. Smoltz finished 1–3 with an ERA of 4.26 with the Cardinals. He was 3–8 with an ERA of 6.35 overall with the Red Sox and Cardinals. In Game 3 of the 2009 NL Division Series, Smoltz pitched two innings of relief in a losing cause, allowing four hits and an earned run while striking out five.[25]

Smoltz was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2015.[32] He was the first starting pitcher since 1987 to be elected despite having fewer than 250 wins and only one Cy Young Award, and the first such starter ever elected on the first ballot.

Smoltz met his first wife Dyan Struble at the Omni Hotel in downtown Atlanta; the couple had four children before divorcing in 2007 after 16 years of marriage.[33] Smoltz lives in Alpharetta, Georgia and also has a home at Sea Island, a golf resort. On May 16, 2009, Smoltz married Kathryn Darden at his home with 70 friends and family in attendance.[34] Smoltz is a Christian.[35]

Smoltz is a good friend of professional golfer Tiger Woods; the two often golf together.[36] Woods has stated that Smoltz is the best golfer outside of the PGA Tour that he has observed.[37] Smoltz has stated that he once had a plus 4 handicap.[38] In 2018, Smoltz qualified for the U.S. Senior Open, one of senior golf's major championships.[39] He is also involved in the sport of bowling.[40]

Smoltz counts Doc Rivers as a personal friend dating back to Rivers' playing days in Atlanta. In the edition of January 12, 2008 of the Boston Globe, Rivers is quoted as saying, "I offered him my apartment... I just told him about Terry and the Red Sox organization. I told him it's a no-brainer."

In a 2004 interview, Smoltz was quoted as comparing the legalization of gay marriage with bestiality, saying "What’s next? Marrying an animal?" as per the Associated Presss. Smoltz later stated the article had portrayed his quote inaccurately.[43]

On April 22, 2012, Smoltz hosted a fundraiser for Andrea Cascarilla, a Democratic candidate for State Representative in Michigan's 71st House District.[45] The 71st District encompasses Waverly Senior High School, where Smoltz was an All-State baseball and basketball player.

Smoltz and his good friend Jeff Foxworthy teamed up for the charity event "An Evening With Smoltz and Friends" on November 9, 2008 at the Verizon Amphitheater in Alpharetta to raise money for the John Smoltz Foundation, which has supported numerous charitable endeavors in the Atlanta area over the past decade.[46]

Smoltz is the Atlanta host for Big League Impact, an eight-city fantasy football network created and led by longtime Cardinals pitcher and former teammate Adam Wainwright. In 2015, the organization raised more than $1 million total for various charitable organizations.[47]

1.
Pitcher
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In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the pitcher is assigned the number 1. The pitcher is often considered the most important defensive player, there are many different types of pitchers, such as the starting pitcher, relief pitcher, middle reliever, lefty specialist, setup man, and closer. The National League in Major League Baseball and the Japanese Central League are among the leagues that have not adopted the designated hitter position. In most cases, the objective of the pitcher is to deliver the pitch to the catcher without allowing the batter to hit the ball with the bat. A successful pitch is delivered in such a way that the batter either allows the pitch to pass through the zone, swings the bat at the ball and misses it. If the batter elects not to swing at the pitch, it is called a strike if any part of the passes through the strike zone. A check swing is when the batter begins to swing, If the batter successfully checks the swing and the pitch is out of the strike zone, it is called a ball. There are two legal pitching positions, the windup and the set position or stretch, either position may be used at any time, typically, the windup is used when the bases are empty, while the set position is used when at least one runner is on base. Each position has certain procedures that must be followed, a balk can be called on a pitcher from either position. A power pitcher is one who relies on the velocity of his pitches to succeed, generally, power pitchers record a high percentage of strikeouts. A control pitcher succeeds by throwing accurate pitches and thus records few walks, nearly all action during a game is centered on the pitcher for the defensive team. A pitchers particular style, time taken between pitches, and skill heavily influence the dynamics of the game and can determine the victor. Meanwhile, a batter stands in the box at one side of the plate. The type and sequence of pitches chosen depend upon the situation in a game. The relationship between pitcher and catcher is so important that some teams select the starting catcher for a game based on the starting pitcher. Together, the pitcher and catcher are known as the battery, although the object and mechanics of pitching remain the same, pitchers may be classified according to their roles and effectiveness. The starting pitcher begins the game, and he may be followed by relief pitchers, such as the long reliever, the left-handed specialist, the middle reliever. In Major League Baseball, every team uses Baseball Rubbing Mud to rub game balls in before their pitchers use them in games, a skilled pitcher often throws a variety of different pitches to prevent the batter from hitting the ball well

2.
Warren, Michigan
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Warren is a city in Macomb County in the U. S. state of Michigan. The 2010 census places the population at 134,056, making Warren the largest city in Macomb County, the third largest city in Michigan. The current mayor is James R. Fouts, who was elected to his first mayoral term in November 2007. Beebes Corners, the settlement in what would become the city of Warren, was founded in 1830 at the corner of Mound Road and Chicago Road. Beebes Corners was a stop between Detroit and Utica, and included a distillery, mill, tavern, and trading post. It was named for War of 1812 veteran, and frontier cleric, however, when it was originally organized the township was named for Rev. Warren who was a Methodist Episcopal preacher who left his native New York in 1824 for Shelby Township. He was the first licensed preacher in the State of Michigan, another version of the source of the citys name claims it was named for General Joseph Warren, who fell at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The small village grew slowly, and had a population of 582 in 1940 and 727 in 1950, while the larger surrounding township grew at a much quicker pace. The Red Run and Bear Creek, just small creeks back in the 1800s, has blossomed into an open major inter-county stormdrain flowing thru Warren, into the Clinton River, between 1950 and 1960, Warrens population soared from 42,653 to 89,426. This population explosion was fueled by the post-WWII Baby Boom and later and this change in population continued into the next decade when the citys population doubled again, ultimately reaching a high of 179,000 in 1970. The subsequent decades have seen Warrens population decline, while violent crime has increased as Demographics have shifted. This has led Warren to a number 7 ranking in Forbes Most Miserable Cities to Live in the US, the following is a list of the previous mayors of the city. The current mayor is James Fouts, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 34.46 square miles, of which 34.38 square miles is land and 0.08 square miles is water. The city covers a six-mile-by-six mile square in the southwest corner of Macomb County in suburban Detroit, other cities bordering on Warren are Detroit, Hazel Park, Madison Heights, Sterling Heights, Fraser, Roseville, and Eastpointe. I‑696 cuts east and west through the middle of Warren, m-53, which is Van Dyke Avenue, leads into Van Dyke Freeway runs north and south and bisects the city. M-97 also known as Groesbeck Highway named for former Governor Alex Groesbeck is near the edge of Warren. It comes north from Detroit, and is a fast and wide diagonal connector to northern Macomb County, m-102 more commonly known as 8 Mile Road or more esoterically as Base Line Road is the citys south border. Mound Road is an important north-south artery in the city, east-west travel is mainly on the mile roads

3.
Earned run average
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In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched, runs resulting from defensive errors are recorded as unearned runs and omitted from ERA calculations. Henry Chadwick is credited with devising the statistic, which caught on as a measure of pitching effectiveness after relief pitching came into vogue in the 1900s. Some criterion was needed to capture the apportionment of earned-run responsibility for a pitcher in games that saw contributions from other pitchers for the same team, a pitcher is assessed an earned run for each run scored by a batter who reaches base while batting against that pitcher. The National League first tabulated official earned run average statistics in 1912, recently written baseball encyclopedias display ERAs for earlier years, but these were computed retroactively. Negro League pitchers are often rated by RA, or total runs allowed, as with batting average, the definition of a good ERA varies from year to year. During the dead-ball era of the 1900s and 1910s, an ERA below 2.00 was considered good, in the 1960s, sub-2.00 ERAs returned, as other influences such as ballparks with different dimensions were introduced. Today, an ERA under 4.00 is again considered good, the all-time record for the lowest single season earned run average by a pitcher pitching 300 or more innings is 1.12, set by Bob Gibson in 1968. The record for the lowest career earned run average is 1.82, held by Ed Walsh, but a purported record based on so few innings pitched is highly misleading. Over the years, more than a dozen part-time pitchers have pitched 105 or more innings and had a run average lower than 0.86. Some sources may list players with infinite ERAs and this can happen if a pitcher allows one or more earned runs without retiring a batter. Additionally, an undefined ERA occasionally occurs at the beginning of a baseball season and it is sometimes incorrectly displayed as zero or as the lowest ranking ERA, even though it is more akin to the highest. At times it can be misleading to judge relief pitchers solely on ERA, because they are charged only for runs scored by batters who reached base while batting against them. Thus, if a pitcher enters the game with his team leading by 1 run, with 2 outs and the bases loaded. If he retires the batter, his ERA for that game will be 0.00 despite having surrendered the lead. Starting pitchers operate under the rules but are not called upon to start pitching with runners already on base. The relievers freedom to use their energy for a few innings, or even for just a few batters. ERA, taken by itself, can also be misleading when trying to objectively judge starting pitchers, the advent of the designated hitter rule in the American League in 1973 made the pitching environment significantly different

4.
Strikeout
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In baseball or softball, a strikeout occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means the batter is out, a strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denoted by K. Although a strikeout suggests that the pitcher dominated the batter, the style that generates home runs also leaves batters susceptible to striking out. Some of the greatest home run hitters of all time — such as Alex Rodriguez, Gorman Thomas, Reggie Jackson, and Sammy Sosa — were notorious for striking out. A pitched ball is ruled a ball by the if the batter did not swing at it and, in that umpires judgment. Any pitch at which the batter swings or, that in that umpires judgment passes through the zone, is ruled a strike. Each ball and strike affects the count, which is incremented for each pitched ball with the exception of a ball on any count with two strikes. That is, a strike may only occur by the batter swinging and missing at a pitched ball. A pitched ball that is struck by the batter with the bat on any count, a batter may also strike out by bunting, even if the ball is hit into foul territory. In Japan, this is called furinige, or swing and escape, in Major League Baseball, it is known as an uncaught third strike. When this happens, a strikeout is recorded for both the pitcher and the batter, but no out is recorded, because of this, a pitcher may occasionally be able to record more than three strikeouts in one half-inning. In baseball scorekeeping, a strikeout is recorded as a K. A strikeout looking is often scored with a backward K, and sometimes as a K-L, CK, despite the scorekeeping custom of using K for strikeout, SO is the official abbreviation used by Major League Baseball. K is still used by fans and enthusiasts for purposes other than official record-keeping. The K may be placed backward in cases where the batter strikes out looking, the use of K for a strikeout was invented by Henry Chadwick, a newspaper journalist who is widely credited as the originator of the box score and the baseball scorecard. As is true in much of baseball, both the box score and scorecard remain largely unchanged to this day, Chadwick decided to use K, the last letter in struck, since the letter S was used for sacrifice. Chadwick was responsible for several other scorekeeping conventions, including the use of numbers to designate player positions and those unaware of Chadwicks contributions have speculated that K was derived from the last name of 19th century pitcher Matt Kilroy. If not for the evidence supporting Chadwicks earlier use of K, Kilroy raised the prominence of the strikeout, setting an all-time single-season record of 513 strikeouts in 1886, only two years after overhand pitching was permitted

5.
Save (baseball)
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In baseball, a save is credited to a pitcher who finishes a game for the winning team under certain prescribed circumstances, described below. The number of saves, or percentage of save opportunities converted, is an oft-cited statistic of relief pitchers. It became an official Major League Baseball statistic in 1969, mariano Rivera is MLBs all-time leader in regular season saves with 652. The term save was being used as far back as 1952, executives Jim Toomey of the St. A formula with more criteria for saves was invented in 1960 by baseball writer Jerome Holtzman and he felt that the existing statistics at the time, earned run average and win–loss record, did not sufficiently measure a relievers effectiveness. ERA does not account for inherited runners a reliever allows to score, Holtzman felt that Face was more effective the previous year when he was 5–2. When Holtzman presented the idea to J. G. Taylor Spink, publisher of The Sporting News, Holtzman recorded the unofficial save statistic in The Sporting News weekly for nine years before it became official in 1969. In conjunction with publishing the statistic, The Sporting News in 1960 also introduced the Fireman of the Year Award, the save became an official MLB statistic in 1969. It was MLBs first new major statistic since the run batted in was added in 1920, in baseball statistics, the term save is used to indicate the successful maintenance of a lead by a relief pitcher, usually the closer, until the end of the game. A save is a statistic credited to a pitcher, as set forth in Rule 10.19 of the Official Rules of Major League Baseball. If a relief pitcher satisfies all of the criteria for a save, except he does not finish the game, he will often be credited with a hold. A blown save is charged to a pitcher who enters a game in a situation which permits him to earn a save, if the reliever allows the tying or leading run, but the relievers team wins the game, the reliever wins the game. Due to this definition, a pitcher cannot blow multiple saves in a game unless he has multiple save opportunities, the blown save was introduced by the Rolaids Relief Man Award in 1988. A pitcher who enters the game in a situation and does not finish the game—but his team still leading—is not charged with a save opportunity. Save percentage is the ratio of saves to save opportunities, in 1974, tougher criteria were adopted for saves where the tying run had to be on base or at the plate when the reliever entered to qualify for a save. This addressed saves such as Ron Taylors in a 20–6 New York Mets win over the Atlanta Braves. The rule was relaxed in 1975 to credit a save when a reliever pitches at least one inning with no more than a lead, or comes in with runners on base. In 2000, Rolaids started recording a save when a pitcher enters a save situation with the potential tying run already on base

6.
Atlanta Braves
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The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball franchise based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The franchise competes in Major League Baseball as a member of the National League East division, the Braves played home games at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium from 1966 to 1996, and Turner Field from 1997 to 2016. Since 2017, their stadium has been SunTrust Park, a new stadium 10 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta in Cumberland/Galleria, Georgia. The Braves play spring training games in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, in January 2017, the Braves announced a formal agreement to move their spring training home to North Port, Florida. The Braves name, which was first used in 1912, originates from a term for a Native American warrior, from 1991 to 2005, the Braves were one of the most successful franchises in baseball, winning division titles an unprecedented 14 consecutive times in that period. The Braves won the NL West 1991–93 and the NL East 1995–2005, the Braves advanced to the World Series five times in the 1990s, winning the title in 1995. The Braves are the only Major League Baseball franchise to have won the World Series in three different home cities, the Braves and the Chicago Cubs are the National Leagues two remaining charter franchises. The Braves were founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1871, the team states it is the oldest continuously operating professional sports franchise in America. After various name changes, the team began operating as the Boston Braves. Then, in 1953, the moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The teams tenure in Atlanta is noted for Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruths career home run record in 1974, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, established in 1869 as the first openly all-professional baseball team, voted to dissolve after the 1870 season. The original Boston Red Stockings team and its successors can lay claim to being the oldest continuously playing team in American professional sports. Two young players hired away from the Forest City club of Rockford, Illinois, turned out to be the biggest stars during the NAPBBP years, pitcher Al Spalding and second baseman Ross Barnes. Led by the Wright brothers, Barnes, and Spalding, the Red Stockings dominated the National Association, the team became one of the National Leagues charter franchises in 1876, sometimes called the Red Caps. The Boston Red Caps played in the first game in the history of the National League, on Saturday, April 22,1876, defeating the Athletics, although somewhat stripped of talent in the National Leagues inaugural year, Boston bounced back to win the 1877 and 1878 pennants. The Red Caps/Beaneaters were one of the dominant teams during the 19th century. For most of time, their manager was Frank Selee. Boston came to be called the Beaneaters in 1883, while retaining red as the team color, the 1898 team finished 102–47, a club record for wins that would stand for almost a century

7.
1988 Major League Baseball season
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The 1988 Major League Baseball season ended with the underdog Los Angeles Dodgers shocking the Oakland Athletics, who had won 104 games during the regular season, in the World Series. The Dodgers went on to win the Series in five games, the As surrounded him with a stellar supporting cast, led by fellow slugger Mark McGwire. Speaking of the Dodgers, nobody expected them to even contend for the National League West title in 1988, let alone win the World Championship. However, the intensity and clutch hitting of Gibson and the pitching of Orel Hershiser spearheaded L. A. to a division championship by seven games over the Cincinnati Reds. In addition to his 23 victories, Hershiser led the National League with 267 innings pitched and 8 shutouts and these accomplishments, combined with his 2.26 ERA, earned him the National League Cy Young Award. He hurled another complete game shutout in Game 2 of the World Series, Hershiser was named MVP of both the NLCS and the World Series, capping off arguably one of the greatest seasons a starting pitcher has ever had. Stargell becomes the 17th player to be elected in his first year of eligibility, pitcher Jim Bunning garners 317 votes, and falls four votes shy of the 321 needed for election in his 13th year on the ballot. March 1 – For the first time since 1956, the Special Veterans Committee does not elect anyone to the Hall of Fame, phil Rizzuto, Leo Durocher, Joe Gordon and Gil Hodges are among the candidates passed over. April – The Baltimore Orioles begin the season with a Major League-record 21 consecutive losses, manager Cal Ripken, Sr. was a casualty of the streak, losing his job after the sixth consecutive loss. April 4 – George Bell becomes the first player to hit three home runs on Opening Day, as the Toronto Blue Jays defeat the Kansas City Royals 5-3. April 4 – The New York Mets hit six runs in a 10-6 win over the Montreal Expos. September 17 – Jeff Reardon becomes the first pitcher to save 40 games in both leagues as the Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 3–1, Reardon, who saved 42 games for the Montréal Expos in 1985, pitches the ninth inning for his 40th save in 47 opportunities. September 19 – The Oakland Athletics clinch their first American League West title since 1981 with a 5–3 victory over the Minnesota Twins, the As would finish the season with 104 wins, a franchise record. September 22 – The New York Mets lock up the National League East with a 3–1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies, September 26 – The Los Angeles Dodgers pull out a 3–2 victory in San Diego to secure their fourth National League West championship of the decade. September 30 – Despite a 4–2 loss in Cleveland, the Boston Red Sox triumph in a close race for the American League East by virtue of Milwaukees 7–1 loss to Oakland. October 9 – The Oakland Athletics complete a sweep of the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS with a 4–1 victory at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. As closer Dennis Eckersley, who saved all four Oakland wins, is named Series MVP, october 12 – A gruelling seven-game NLCS is decided as the Los Angeles Dodgers blank the New York Mets 6–0. Orel Hershiser, who saved Game 4 and threw a complete shutout in Game 7

8.
2001 Major League Baseball season
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The 2001 Major League Baseball season, the first of the 21st century, finished with the Arizona Diamondbacks defeating the New York Yankees in a Game 7 of the 2001 World Series. The September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D. C. pushed the end of the regular-season from September 30 to October 7, because of the tragedy, the World Series was not completed until November 4, therefore, it was called The November Series. The 2001 World Series was the only World Series to end in November, until the 2009 Series, World Series champion, Arizona Diamondbacks Postseason, October 9 to November 4 ±hosted the MLB All Star Game Hank Aaron Award, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds. Rolaids Relief Man Award, Mariano Rivera, Armando Benítez, all-Star Game, July 10 at Safeco Field, American League, 4–1, Cal Ripken, Jr. MVP Home Run Derby, July 9 – Luis González, Arizona Diamondbacks Major League Baseball standings 2001

9.
2008 Major League Baseball season
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The Civil Rights Game, an exhibition, in Memphis, Tennessee took place March 29 when the New York Mets beat the Chicago White Sox, 3–2. The All-Star Game was played on July 15 at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York City, for the eighth straight season, a defending World Champion – the Boston Red Sox – failed to defend their championship. The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series 4 games to 1 over the Tampa Bay Rays and this was Philadelphias second championship, and also the first World Series appearance for the Rays. The Angels clinched home field on September 26 when the Tampa Bay Rays lost to the Detroit Tigers. On September 20, the Chicago Cubs became the team to get their passport to October with a win over the St. Louis Cardinals. This marked the first time since 1907 and 1908 that the Cubs appeared in consecutive postseasons, two days later, the Cubs clinched the home field advantage through the National League Playoffs by beating the New York Mets. Also on September 20, the Tampa Bay Rays guaranteed a spot in the playoffs for the first time in history by beating the Minnesota Twins at Tropicana Field. Tampa Bay won its first American League East title six days later, on September 23, the Boston Red Sox clinched a playoff spot, their fifth in the last six years. The Red Sox win also eliminated the Yankees from the post-season for the first time since 1993, on September 26, the Yankees handed the Rays the American League East title by beating the Red Sox by a 19–8 score, making Boston the Wild Card. On September 25, the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the National League West when the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, on September 27, the Philadelphia Phillies clinched the National League East title for the second straight year with their win over the Washington Nationals, 4–3. This marks the first time they would play in consecutive postseasons since the 1980 and 1981 seasons, the 1981 appearance made possible by the split season due to the players strike. The previous season, the Marlins beat the Mets while the Phillies beat the Nationals on the last day to knock the Mets out of the postseason as the Phillies won the NL East. The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins in a playoff by 1–0 at U. S. Cellular Field on September 30, becoming the winner of the American League Central, note, Major League Baseballs playoff format automatically seeds the Wild Card team 4th. Normally, the No.1 seed plays the No.4 seed in the Division Series, hence, Milwaukee and the Chicago Cubs did not face each other in the NLDS. In scores, home teams are in italics, winning team is boldface, Tampa Bay Rays vs. John Smoltz of the Atlanta Braves recorded his 3, 000th strikeout against Felipe López of the Washington Nationals April 22. Kenny Rogers of the Detroit Tigers became the all-time career pickoff leader with 92, on May 9, Rogers picked off Wilson Betemit of the New York Yankees, passing Mark Langston. Greg Maddux of the San Diego Padres recorded his 350th career win against the Colorado Rockies on May 10, Brad Ausmus of the Houston Astros recorded his 1, 500th hit on May 12 against the Giants

10.
Boston Red Sox
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The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League East division. The Red Sox have won eight World Series championships and have played in 13, founded in 1901 as one of the American Leagues eight charter franchises, the Red Sox home ballpark has been Fenway Park since 1912. The Red Sox name was chosen by the owner, John I. Taylor, around 1908, following the lead of previous teams that had known as the Boston Red Stockings. Boston was a dominant team in the new league, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series in 1903 and winning four more championships by 1918. Following their victory in the 2013 World Series, they became the first team to win three World Series trophies in the 21st century, including championships in 2004 and 2007. Red Sox history has also marked by the teams intense rivalry with the Yankees. The Boston Red Sox are owned by Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Liverpool F. C. of the Premier League in England. The Red Sox are consistently one of the top MLB teams in road attendance. From May 15,2003 to April 10,2013, the Red Sox sold out every home game—a total of 820 games for a professional sports record. Neil Diamonds Sweet Caroline has become an anthem for the Red Sox, the name Red Sox, chosen by owner John I. Taylor after the 1907 season, refers to the red hose in the team uniform beginning 1908. Sox had been adopted for the Chicago White Sox by newspapers needing a headline-friendly form of Stockings. The team name Red Sox had previously used as early as 1888 by a colored team from Norfolk. The Spanish language media sometimes refers to the team as Medias Rojas, the official Spanish site uses the variant Los Red Sox. The Red Stockings nickname was first used by a team by the Cincinnati Red Stockings. Managed by Harry Wright, Cincinnati adopted a uniform with white knickers and red stockings and earned the famous nickname, the Boston Red Stockings won four championships in the five seasons of the new National Association, the first professional league. Other names were used before Boston officially adopted the nickname Braves in 1912

11.
2009 Major League Baseball season
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The 2009 Major League Baseball season began on Sunday, April 5,2009 with the New York Yankees defeating the 2008 World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies 4–2. The regular season ended on October 6, extended two days for a playoff between the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins to decide the American League Central Division champion. The postseason began the day with the Division Series. This was the time the season was completed in November. The American League champion had home advantage for the World Series by virtue of winning the All-Star Game on July 14 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. Both teams wore replicas of their 1965 uniforms in the contest, the New York Yankees, with 103 wins, clinched Major League Baseballs best record in the 2009 season, and the #1 seed in the American League by winning the AL East. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim won the second seed with a 97–65 record, in the AL Central, the Minnesota Twins defeated the Detroit Tigers in a one-game playoff for the division championship and the #3 seed. The Los Angeles Dodgers had the National Leagues best record, clinching the top seed in the Senior Circuit, the NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies, who were defending their 2008 title, was the #2 seed with a 93–69 record. The St. Louis Cardinals, from the NL Central, notched a 91–71 record, note, Major League Baseballs playoff format automatically seeds the Wild Card team 4th. Normally, the No.1 seed plays the No.4 seed in the Division Series. † –11 innings † –13 innings ‡ –11 innings The Seattle Mariners named Milwaukee Brewers scouting director Jack Zduriencik its new manager on October 22. Washington Nationals GM Jim Bowden resigned on March 1 amid allegations that he was skimming money from Latin American players. During the last days of the season, two teams fired their general managers, effective at the end of the season. On October 3, the Toronto Blue Jays fired J. P. Ricciardi after eight seasons, the following day, the San Diego Padres axed Kevin Towers, who had been the longest-tenured GM in Major League Baseball at 14 seasons. Gaston had previously been the Blue Jays manager from 1989 until 1997, on January 15, the owners of the 30 Major League Baseball clubs approved two rule changes governing the playing of postseason and one-game playoff games. The game is resumed when conditions permit at the location from the point of suspension. This rule change codifies the controversial interpretation of the rules made by MLB commissioner Bud Selig during Game 5 of the 2008 World Series. Coin tosses will no longer be used to determine home-field advantage for one-game tiebreakers held to determine division champions or wild card teams, instead, performance-based criteria—including head-to-head record between the tied clubs—will be used to determine home-field advantage

12.
St. Louis Cardinals
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The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League Central division. Busch Stadium has been their home ballpark since 2006, with origins as one of the early professional baseball clubs in St. Upon the discontinuation of the AA, St. Louis joined the NL in 1892, at time, they were called the Browns. One of the most successful franchises in history, the Cardinals have won 11 World Series championships. Their 19 National League pennants rank third in NL history, in addition, St. Louis has won 13 division titles in the East and Central divisions. While still in the AA, St. Louis won four league championships, the Cardinals have won 105 or more games in four different seasons and won 100 or more a total of nine times. Cardinals players have won 20 league MVPs, four batting Triple Crowns, and three Cy Young Awards. Baseball Hall of Fame inductees include Lou Brock, Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson, Whitey Herzog, Rogers Hornsby, Joe Medwick, Stan Musial, Branch Rickey, Red Schoendienst, Ozzie Smith, and Bruce Sutter. In 2016, Forbes valued the Cardinals at $1.6 billion, making them the 7th-most valuable franchise in MLB, their revenue the year was $300 million. Since their purchase in 1995, owner William DeWitt, Jr. s investment group has seen enormous growth from the $147 million purchase price, John Mozeliak is the general manager and Mike Matheny is the manager. Professional baseball began in St. Louis with the inception of the Brown Stockings in the National Association in 1875, the NA folded following that season, and the next season, St. Louis joined the National League as a charter member, finishing in third place at 45-19. George Bradley hurled the first no-hitter in Major League history, the NL expelled St. Louis from the league after 1877 due to a game-fixing scandal and the team went bankrupt. Without a league, they continued play as a barnstorming team through 1881. For the 1882 season, Chris von der Ahe purchased the team, reorganized it, and made it a member of the American Association. 1882 is generally considered to be the first year existence of the St. Louis Cardinals, the next season, St. Louis shortened their name to the Browns. Soon thereafter they became the dominant team in the AA, as manager Charlie Comiskey guided St. Louis to four pennants in a row from 1885 to 1888. Pitcher and outfielder Bob Caruthers led the league in ERA and wins in 1885 and he also led the AA in OBP and OPS in 1886 and finished fourth in batting average in 1886 and fifth in 1887

13.
Major League Baseball All-Star Game
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The game usually occurs on either the second or third Tuesday in July, and is meant to mark a symbolic halfway-point in the MLB season. Both of the major leagues share a common All-Star break, with no games scheduled on the day before or two days after the All-Star Game itself. Some additional events and festivities associated with the game take place each year close to, no official MLB All-Star Game was held in 1945 including the official selection of players due to World War II travel restrictions. The first All-Star Game was held on July 6,1933 as part of the 1933 Worlds Fair in Chicago, at Comiskey Park and was initiated by Arch Ward, initially intended to be a one-time event, its great success resulted in making the game an annual one. The venue for the All-Star Game is chosen by Major League Baseball, the criteria for the venue are subjective, generally, cities with new ballparks and those who have not hosted the game in a long time—or ever—tend to get selected. New York City has hosted more than any city, having done so nine times in five different stadiums. At the same time, the New York Mets failed to host for 48 seasons, in the first two decades of the game there were two pairs of teams that shared ballparks, located in Philadelphia and St. Louis. This led to some shorter-than-usual gaps between the use of venues, The Cardinals hosted the game in 1940, and the Browns in 1948. The Athletics hosted the game in 1943, and the Phillies in 1952, the venues traditionally alternate between the American League and National League every year. This tradition has been several times, The first time was in 1951. Detroit Tigers were chosen to host the game as part of the citys 250th birthday. The second was when the format during the 1959–1962 seasons resulted in the A. L. being one game ahead in turn. This was corrected in 2007, when the N. L, San Francisco Giants were the host for the 2007 All-Star Game, which also set up the 2008 game to be held at the A. L. s Yankee Stadium in its final season. This decision was made following the announcement of Miami as host for the 2017 All Star Game, the coaching staff for each team is selected by its manager. This honor is given to the manager, not the team and this happened in 2003, when Dusty Baker managed the National League team despite having moved from the National League champion San Francisco Giants to the Chicago Cubs. This has also included situations where the person is no longer actively managing a team, mcGraw came out of retirement for that purpose. Dick Williams resigned after managing the Oakland Athletics to the 1973 World Series, in 1974, he became manager of the California Angels, whose uniform he wore for the game. Tony La Russa, who managed the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals in 2011, in 1979, Bob Lemon managed the American League team after having been fired by New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner

14.
1989 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
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The game was held on July 11,1989, at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California, the home of the California Angels of the American League. The game is noted for being the first in All-Star Game history to include the designated hitter, the game resulted in the American League defeating the National League 5-3. The game is remembered for Bo Jacksons monstrous lead-off home run to center field, Jackson was named the games MVP. The game also featured former U. S. President and former baseball announcer Ronald Reagan sharing the NBC broadcast booth with Vin Scully for the first inning, the pregame ceremonies featured Disney characters joining this years players in sprinting onto the field for the introduction of the starting lineups. Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies, who had retired on May 29, was elected by the fans as the starting third baseman for the NL All-Star team. Schmidt decided not to play, but he did participate in the opening ceremony in uniform. Doc Severinsen later led The Tonight Show Band in the playing of the Canadian, Severinsen and The Tonight Show Bands performance of the U. S. National Anthem was the last non-vocal performance of the Anthem at the All-Star Game to date. The ceremonial first pitch was thrown by longtime Angels coach Jimmie Reese and this was the second All-Star Game to be played in Anaheim, which last hosted the Midsummer Classic in 1967. It would return to the renovated and renamed Angel Stadium of Anaheim in 2010. Players in italics have since been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the NL got off to a fast start off Dave Stewart in the first on RBI singles by Kevin Mitchell and Howard Johnson. The AL would counter in spectacular fashion in their half when game MVP Bo Jackson took the pitch by Rick Reuschel, a low sinker. Wade Boggs followed with a homer of his own to tie it. The AL took the lead the next inning when Jackson beat out a double play grounder. Jackson then stole second, making him the player to have a home run. The AL expanded their lead to 5-2 in the third on RBI singles by Harold Baines, the NL would get no closer than a run in the eighth when Von Hayes singled home Glenn Davis

15.
1996 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
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The game was held on July 9,1996, at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League. This marked the fifteenth and final all star game appearance of Ozzie Smith, Smith entered the game in the top of the sixth inning. His first at-bat was greeted by chants of Oz-zie, Oz-zie from the Philadelphia crowd, iron Man Cal Ripken, Jr. who was in the midst of his record-breaking run of consecutive games played, broke his nose during the pre-game AL team picture. However, he was ready to go at game time and started at SS, during the pregame ceremonies, Kelsey Grammer of Frasier sang the American National Anthem and Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan sang the Canadian National Anthem. Congressman Jim Bunning joined other Phillies hall of fame alumni Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Richie Ashburn, joe Carter, the Toronto Blue Jays representative to the All-Star Game, received good-natured boos from the crowd for his home run that ended the 1993 World Series. The game resulted in the National League defeating the American League 6–0, the National League would not win another All-Star Game until 2010. After the game, then-Chairman of the Executive Committee Bud Selig presented the All-Star Game MVP Award to Mike Piazza, bobby Brown had presented the MVP Award in 1993, while National League President Len Coleman had presented the award in 1994 and 1995. After presenting the MVP Award at the 1998 Major League Baseball All-Star Game and this is the only All-Star Game in which not a single pitcher walked a batter, appropriately, Braves closer Mark Wohlers was the final pitcher of the game. Veterans Stadium also held the distinction of being the most recent host stadium to be closed down, players in italics have since been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame

16.
2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
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The game was held on July 9,2002 at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the home of the Milwaukee Brewers of the NL. The game controversially ended with a 7–7 tie due to teams running out of available pitchers. Beginning the next year, home advantage in the World Series would be awarded to the winning league to prevent ties. No player was awarded the Most Valuable Player Award due to the ending in a tie. The roster selection for the 2002 game marked the inaugural All-Star Final Vote competition, johnny Damon and Andruw Jones represented the American and National Leagues as a result of this contest. Players in italics have since been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, notes a Player declined or was unable to play. B Player replaced vacant spot on roster, FV Player was voted onto roster through the All-Star Final Vote. National League starting pitcher Curt Schilling was sharp early on, striking out three through two innings pitched, in the bottom of the first, Barry Bonds hit a deep fly ball off AL starter Derek Lowe, which looked to be deep enough to be a home run. Instead, center fielder Torii Hunter reached over the wall and caught Bonds drive, Bonds playfully picked up Hunter as the NL took the field the next inning. The NL would get on the board in the bottom of the second, theyd score three more runs the next inning, when Todd Helton singled home Jimmy Rollins. Barry Bonds would get revenge for having his home run taken away by belting a two-run shot to give the NL a 4–0 lead. The AL would finally score in the fourth, on the strength of a Manny Ramírez RBI single, the AL would cut the NL lead in half in the fifth, when Alfonso Soriano hit a solo homer off Éric Gagné to cut the lead to 4–2. The NL got a run back with Damian Millers RBI double to put the NL up 5–2, the AL put together a big inning in the seventh to take the lead. An RBI groundout from Garret Anderson, an RBI single from Tony Batista, the NL regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh, on a two-run single from Lance Berkman, which scored Mike Lowell and Damian Miller. The AL quickly tied the game back up in the eighth with Omar Vizquels RBI triple, neither team scored after that in regulation, and the game went into extra innings. Vicente Padilla and Freddy García each pitched scoreless innings, keeping the game tied. A problem arose at this point, as Padilla and Garcia were the last available pitchers on each team. After the decision was announced over the stadiums PA system, fans booed and jeered, with beer bottles being thrown onto the field

17.
2003 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
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The game was held on July 15,2003 at U. S. Cellular Field, the home of the Chicago White Sox of the American League, the game resulted in the American League defeating the National League 7–6, thus awarding an AL team home-field advantage in the 2003 World Series. This game was the first All-Star Game to award home-field advantage in the World Series to the winning league, in the days leading up to the game, Fox advertised it with the tagline, This time it counts. Subsequent editions altered the slogan to This one counts to reflect the new method of determining the World Series home-field advantage, both the five-man color guard and the sheriffs department officers accompanied Michael Bublé, who sang O Canada, and Vanessa Carlton, who sang The Star-Spangled Banner. Bublés performance of O Canada was not televised until after the game in the Chicago area, players in italics have since been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Notes a Player was unable to due to injury. B Player was selected to start, but was unable to due to injury. C Player replaced an injured player, FV Player was selected by the fans through the All-Star Final Vote. Starters Esteban Loaiza and Jason Schmidt were sharp early on, each throwing a couple of innings to start the game. In the third, Roger Clemens relieved Loaiza and threw a scoreless inning himself, randy Wolf could not do the same, allowing Carlos Delgado to single home Ichiro Suzuki with the games first run, and a 1–0 lead for the AL. The lead would stand until the inning, when Todd Helton gave the NL the lead with a two-run homer off Shigetoshi Hasegawa. The National League would go on to three more runs that inning, on the strength of a two-run double from Andruw Jones. In the sixth, Garret Anderson hit a homer off Woody Williams to bring the AL back within two. Andruw Jones would get one of those runs back the next inning by hitting a shot off Mark Mulder. Jason Giambi got the run back with a solo shot off Billy Wagner in the seventh. In the eighth came Éric Gagné, who did not blow any saves in the 2003 regular season, the All-Star Game would prove to be the one blemish on his record for the year. Staked to a 6–4 lead, Gagne gave up a double to Garret Anderson. Vernon Wells singled Mora home to make it a one-run game, then Hank Blalock hit a dramatic, two-out go-ahead home run to put the AL up 7–6

18.
2005 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
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The game was held on July 12,2005 at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan, the home of the Detroit Tigers of the American League. The game resulted in the American League defeating the National League 7–5, the game was when Rawlings first previewed the Coolflo batting helmets. Players in italics have since been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, notes a Player declined or was unable to play. B Player replaced vacant spot on roster, FV Player was voted onto roster via the All-Star Final Vote. National League, Tony LaRussaAmerican League, Terry Francona Before the game, Brian McKnight sang The Star-Spangled Banner, the U. S. National Anthem. The colors presentation was by the Camp Grayling color guard, accompanied by University of Toledo ROTC officers who presented the flags in the outfield. In the first inning, starters Mark Buehrle and Chris Carpenter each induced a double play, from Carlos Beltran and Manny Ramírez respectively, to end early threats. The American League would score in the bottom of the second, the AL would score two more in the third, on the strength of a David Ortiz RBI single, and an RBI groundout by Tejada, his second RBI in as many innings. The NL wasted an opportunity in the top of the fourth. In the bottom of that inning, Ichiro Suzuki hit a broken-bat, during the seventh-inning stretch, Brian McKnight sang God Bless America. The NL finally got on the board in the next inning and they scored another run in the eighth, when Moisés Alou scored on an RBI forceout by Miguel Cabrera. In the top of the ninth, Luis Gonzalez scored Andruw Jones with a double off of Baltimore closer B. J. Ryan, mariano Rivera then came on to stop the NLs potential rally. Rivera struck out Morgan Ensberg to end the threat, and the game, hall-of-Fame Al Kaline joined the ceremonial first pitch ceremonies. In this event, the eight competitors each came from a different nation and this format dovetailed with the announcement of the launch of the World Baseball Classic the week before, as of the following year. All-Star Game Home Page Home Run Derby July 12,2005 All-Star Game at Comerica Park Box Score and Play by Play - Baseball-Reference. com

19.
2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
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The 2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 78th midseason exhibition between the all-stars of the American League and the National League, the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 10,2007, at AT&T Park and it marked the third time that the Giants hosted the All Star Game since moving to San Francisco for the 1958 season. The American League defeated the National League by a score of 5–4, Ichiro Suzuki won the MVP award for the game for hitting the first inside-the-park home run in All-Star history. As per the 2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement, the American League champion received home advantage in the 2007 World Series. The victory was the 10th consecutive for the AL, and their 11-game unbeaten streak is only beaten by the NLs 11-game winning streak from 1972 to 1982 in All-Star history. As with each All-Star Game since 1970, the eight starting position players of each league were elected by fan balloting, the remaining players were selected by a players vote, each leagues team manager, and a second fan balloting to add one more player to each roster. In all,32 players were selected to each leagues team, the Giants were awarded the game on February 9,2005. The game marked the first time since 1962 that one league hosted consecutive All-Star Games, after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the game was the fifth straight All-Star Game to decide home-field advantage in the World Series. The AL entered the game on an unbeaten streak. The NL was looking for their first win since the 1996 game in Philadelphia, balloting for the 2007 All-Star Game starters began on April 27 and continued through June 28. The top vote-getters at each position and the top three among outfielders, are named the starters for their respective leagues, the results were announced on July 1. About 18.5 million votes were cast by close to twelve million fans, Alex Rodriguez was the leading vote-getter with 3,890,515 votes, easily outpacing his Yankees teammate Derek Jeter by over 700,000 votes. Ken Griffey, Jr. was the top vote-getter in the National League, after the rosters were announced, a second round of fan voting, the Monster All-Star Final Vote, was commenced to determine the occupant of the final roster spot for each team. This round lasted until July 5, Chris Young and Hideki Okajima were elected to represent the National League and American League, respectively, in the All-Star Game as first time All-Stars. All ten players included in the balloting were pitchers, a first for the event, players in italics have since been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. ^a These players did not see action in the game. ^b Voted onto the roster through the All-Star Final Vote. ^c Unable to play due to injury, brandon Webb took his roster spot. ^d Unable to play due to injury. Roy Oswalt took his roster spot, National League, Tony La RussaAmerican League, Jim Leyland O Canada was played by members of the San Francisco Symphony. The Star-Spangled Banner was sung by Chris Isaak, before the game, there was a tribute to former San Francisco Giants slugger Willie Mays

20.
World Series
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The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball in North America, contested since 1903 between the American League champion team and the National League champion team. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a playoff. As the series is played in October, during the season in North America. As of 2016, the World Series has been contested 112 times, with the AL winning 64, the 2016 World Series took place between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs. Seven games were played, with the Cubs victorious after game seven, the final score was 8–7, the game went into extra innings after a tied score of 6–6. This was the third World Series won by the Cubs, as well as their first title since 1908, in the National League, the St. As of 2016, no team has won consecutive World Series championships since the New York Yankees in 1998,1999, all championships were awarded to the team with the best record at the end of the season, without a postseason series being played. From 1884 to 1890, the National League and the American Association faced each other in a series of games at the end of the season to determine an overall champion. These series were disorganized in comparison to the modern World Series, the number of games played ranged from as few as three in 1884, to a high of fifteen in 1887. Both the 1885 and 1890 Series ended in ties, each team having won three games with one tie game, the series was promoted and referred to as The Championship of the United States, Worlds Championship Series, or Worlds Series for short. In his book Krakatoa, The Day the World Exploded, August 27,1883, Simon Winchester mentions in passing that the World Series was named for the New York World newspaper, but this view is disputed. Until about 1960, some sources treated the 19th-century Series on a basis with the post-19th-century series. After about 1930, however, many authorities list the start of the World Series in 1903, following the collapse of the American Association after the 1891 season, the National League was again the only major league. The league championship was awarded in 1892 by a playoff between half-season champions and this scheme was abandoned after one season. Beginning in 1893—and continuing until divisional play was introduced in 1969—the pennant was awarded to the club in the standings at the end of the season. For four seasons, 1894–1897, the league played the runners-up in the post season championship series called the Temple Cup. A second attempt at this format was the Chronicle-Telegraph Cup series, in 1901, the American League was formed as a second major league. No championship series were played in 1901 or 1902 as the National and these series were arranged by the participating clubs, as the 1880s Worlds Series matches had been

21.
1995 World Series
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The 1995 World Series matched the Atlanta Braves against the Cleveland Indians. The Braves won in six games to capture their third World Series championship in franchise history and this was also Clevelands first Series appearance in 41 years and marked the resumption of the Fall Classic after the previous years Series was canceled due to a players strike. The Series was also remarkable in that five of the six games were won by one run, including the sixth game. After losing the World Series in 1991 to the Minnesota Twins and in 1992 to the Toronto Blue Jays and this World Series, despite being in an odd-numbered year, opened in the NL home because of the omission of the 1994 World Series. Until 2003, the World Series would begin in the AL home in even-numbered years, the Braves overcame some early inconsistency to win their division by 21 games. In the playoffs, which featured a new first round, the Braves overwhelmed the third-year Colorado Rockies, then swept the Cincinnati Reds in the NLCS. The team relied on hitting and its powerful pitching rotation, which was made up of perennial Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz. After decades of futility, the city of Cleveland finally had a winner in town, the Indians dominated the American League in 1995, winning 100 of their 144 games. Furthermore, in just 144 games, they won the AL Central by 30 games, the 1995 Cleveland Indians featured a very impressive batting line-up, one that hit for high average, good power, and had good speed. In addition to leading the AL in batting average, the Indians in 1995 also led the American League in runs scored, home runs, while this line-up was filled with star players, Albert Belle stood out among all of them in 1995. Powered by a strong second half of the season, Belle, the Indians clean-up hitter in 1995, finished 1995 with a 0.317 batting average,126 RBI. Further to be noted is the fact that, in hitting 50 HR and 52 doubles in 1995, Belle became the first Major League player to hit at least 50 home runs, the Indians also led the 1995 AL in ERA. While their starting pitching—led by veterans Dennis Martínez and Orel Hershiser—was respectable, Mesa, in his first year as closer, posted a league-leading 46 saves in 1995, and set a then-Major League record of 38 consecutive saves without a blown save. Two of the members of the 1995 Indians pitching staff—Dennis Martínez, thus it was that this Series presented an entertaining match-up of baseballs two best teams, each with reasons to be confident going into the Series. The Atlanta Braves were veterans to the post-season in the 1990s, in 1948, the Boston Braves faced the Cleveland Indians. Even before that, in 1892, the Boston Beaneaters, a forerunner of the Braves, were also National League Champions in 1892, the Beaneaters beat the Spiders that year to win that baseball championship. NBC was originally scheduled to televise the entire Series, however, due to the cancellation of the 1994 Series, Game 5 is, to date, the last Major League Baseball game to be telecast by ABC. This was the only World Series to be produced under the Baseball Network umbrella, in July 1995, both networks announced that they would be pulling out of what was supposed to be a six-year-long venture

22.
Cy Young Award
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The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball, one each for the American League and National League. The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955. The award was given to the single best pitcher in the major leagues, but in 1967, after the retirement of Frick. Each leagues award is voted on by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, as of the 2010 season, each voter places a vote for first, second, third, fourth and fifth place among the pitchers of each league. The formula used to calculate the scores is a weighted sum of the votes. The pitcher with the highest score in league wins the award. If two pitchers receive the number of votes, the award is shared. The current formula started in the 2010 season, before that, dating back to 1970, writers voted for three pitchers, with the formula of 5 points for a first place vote,3 for a second place vote and 1 for a third place vote. Prior to 1970, writers voted for the best pitcher. The Cy Young Award was first introduced in 1956 by Commissioner of Baseball Ford C, Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955. The award would be given to pitchers only, originally given to the single best pitcher in the major leagues, the award changed its format over time. From 1956 to 1966, the award was given to one pitcher in Major League Baseball, after Frick retired in 1967, William Eckert became the new Commissioner of Baseball. Due to fan requests, Eckert announced that the Cy Young Award would be given out both in the American League and the National League. From 1956 to 1958, a pitcher was not allowed to win the award on more than one occasion, the first recipient of the Cy Young Award was Don Newcombe of the Dodgers. In 1957, Warren Spahn became the first left-handed pitcher to win the award, in 1963, Sandy Koufax became the first pitcher to win the award in a unanimous vote, two years later he became the first multiple winner. In 1978, Gaylord Perry became the oldest pitcher to receive the award, the youngest recipient was Dwight Gooden. Dickey became the first knuckleball pitcher to win the award, in 1974, Mike Marshall won the award, becoming the first relief pitcher to win the award. In 1992, Dennis Eckersley was the first modern closer to win the award, a total of nine relief pitchers have won the Cy Young Award across both leagues

23.
Silver Slugger Award
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Managers and coaches are not permitted to vote for players on their own team. The Silver Slugger was first awarded in 1980 and is given by Hillerich & Bradsby, the award is a bat-shaped trophy,3 feet tall, engraved with the names of each of the winners from the league and plated with sterling silver. The prize is presented to outfielders irrespective of their specific position, embattled home run record-holder Barry Bonds won twelve Silver Slugger Awards in his career as an outfielder, the most of any player. He also won the award in five consecutive seasons twice in his career, from 1990 to 1994, retired catcher Mike Piazza and former New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez are tied for second, with ten wins each. Rodriguez awards are split between two positions, he won seven Silver Sluggers as a shortstop for the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers, wade Boggs leads third basemen with eight Silver Slugger Awards, Barry Larkin leads shortstops with nine. Other leaders include Ryne Sandberg and Mike Hampton, todd Helton and Albert Pujols are tied for the most wins among first baseman with four, although Pujols has won two awards at other positions. David Ortiz has won seven awards at designated hitter position, the most at that position, inline citations Louisville Slugger – The Silver Slugger Award

24.
Rolaids Relief Man Award
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Relief pitchers are the pitchers who enter the game after the starting pitcher is removed. The award was sponsored by Rolaids, whose slogan was R-O-L-A-I-D-S spells relief, because the first closers were nicknamed firemen, a reference to putting out the fire of another teams rally, the trophy was a gold-plated firefighters helmet. Unlike other awards, such as the Cy Young Award or the MLB Most Valuable Player Award, each save was worth three points, each win was worth two points, and each loss was worth negative two points. Beginning with the 1987 MLB season, negative two points were given for blown saves, in the 2000 MLB season, the term tough save, which was worth an additional point, was introduced by Rolaids. A tough save happened when a relief pitcher entered the game already having the potential tying run on base, the player with the highest point total won the award. The inaugural award winners were Bill Campbell and Rawly Eastwick, Campbell also won in the following season, dan Quisenberry and Mariano Rivera each won the AL award five times, while Rollie Fingers and Bruce Sutter won the award four times each. Todd Worrell won both the Relief Man and the MLB Rookie of the Year Award in the 1986 MLB season, Rivera and Joe Nathan were the only relief pitchers to have tied in points for the award, and both were awarded in 2009. Goose Gossage, Fingers, Eckersley, and Sutter were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, craig Kimbrel and Jim Johnson were the final award winners in 2012. Sanofi acquired Rolaids from Johnson & Johnson unit McNeil Consumer Healthcare in 2013, a Won Cy Young Award and MLB Most Valuable Player Award in the same season. B Won Cy Young Award in the same season, C Won MLB Rookie of the Year Award in the same season. McNeil Consumer Healthcare Division of McNeil-PPC, Inc, Rookie of the Year Awards & Rolaids Relief Award Winners

25.
Roberto Clemente Award
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It is named for Hall of Fame outfielder Roberto Clemente. Originally known as the Commissioners Award, it has been presented by the MLB since 1971, in 1973, the award was renamed after Clemente following his death in a plane crash while delivering supplies to victims of the Nicaragua earthquake. Each year, a panel of baseball dignitaries selects 1 player from 30 nominees, teams choose their nominee during the regular season, and the winner is announced at the World Series. The player who receives the most votes online via MLBs official website, MLB. com, since 2007, the Roberto Clemente Award has been presented by Chevy. Additionally, Chevy donates money to the charity of choice of each of the 30 Club recipients, the first winner of the award was Willie Mays, and the most recent winner is Curtis Granderson. None of the winners has received the more than once. The first pitcher to win the award was Phil Niekro in 1980, to date, Clementes former teammate Willie Stargell and McCutchen are the only members of the Pittsburgh Pirates to win the award. Stargell won his award in 1974, and McCutchen won in 2015, the Pirates themselves have been wearing Clemente-era throwback uniforms in recent years on Roberto Clemente Day, which is the day they play the game that they present their nominee to MLB. In 2014, for the first time, the award was awarded to two instead of one. The award was awarded to Paul Konerko and Jimmy Rollins, in 2014, there were two recipients of the award – one for each league. Players Choice Awards Lou Gehrig Memorial Award Branch Rickey Award Bart Giamatti Award Baseball awards Golden Spirit Award General Specific

26.
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
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The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, and operated by private interests. The Halls motto is Preserving History, Honoring Excellence, Connecting Generations, the word Cooperstown is often used as shorthand for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. The Hall of Fame was established in 1939 by Stephen Carlton Clark, Clark had sought to bring tourists to a city hurt by the Great Depression, which reduced the local tourist trade, and Prohibition, which devastated the local hops industry. A new building was constructed, and the Hall of Fame was dedicated on June 12,1939, the erroneous claim that U. S. Civil War hero Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown was instrumental in the early marketing of the Hall. An expanded library and research facility opened in 1994, dale Petroskey became the organizations president in 1999. In 2002, the Hall launched Baseball As America, an exhibit that toured ten American museums over six years. The Hall of Fame has since also sponsored educational programming on the Internet to bring the Hall of Fame to schoolchildren who might not visit, the Hall and Museum completed a series of renovations in spring 2005. The Hall of Fame also presents an annual exhibit at FanFest at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Jeff Idelson replaced Petroskey as president on April 16,2008. In 2012, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed a law ordering the United States Mint to produce and sell commemorative, non-circulating coins to benefit the private, non-profit Hall. The bill, House Bill H. R.2527, was introduced in the United States House of Representatives by Rep. Richard Hanna, a Republican from New York, the coins, which depict baseball gloves and balls, are the first concave designs produced by the Mint. The mintage included 50,000 gold coins,400,000 silver coins, the Mint released them on March 27,2014, and the gold and silver editions quickly sold out. The Hall receives money from surcharges included in the sale price,114 members of the Hall of Fame have been inducted posthumously, including four who died after their selection was announced. Of the 35 Negro league members,29 were inducted posthumously, the Hall of Fame includes one female member, Effa Manley. The newest inductees, enshrined on July 24,2016, are players Mike Piazza, the incoming class of 2017, to be formally enshrined on July 30, consists of executives John Schuerholz and Bud Selig and players Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, and Iván Rodríguez. In addition to honoring Hall of Fame inductees, the National Baseball Hall of Fame has presented 40 men with the Ford C, while Frick and Spink Award honorees are not members of the Hall of Fame, they are recognized in an exhibit in the Hall of Fames library. ONeil Award honorees are also not Hall of Fame members, but are listed alongside a permanent statue of the namesake and first recipient, Buck ONeil. From a final ballot typically including 25–40 candidates, each writer may vote for up to 10 players, until the late 1950s, any player named on 75% or more of all ballots cast is elected. A player who is named on fewer than 5% of ballots is dropped from future elections, players receiving 5% or more of the votes but fewer than 75% are reconsidered annually until a maximum of ten years of eligibility

27.
Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 2015
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Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 2015 proceeded according to rules most recently amended in 2014. As in the past, the Baseball Writers Association of America voted by mail to select from a ballot of recently retired players, randy Johnson, Pedro Martínez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio were elected to the Hall of Fame. It was the first time since 1955 that the BBWAA elected four players in one year, none of these candidates received enough votes to be elected. The Hall of Fame induction ceremonies were held on July 26 at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, on the day before the actual induction ceremony, the annual Hall of Fame Awards Presentation took place. At that event, two awards for media excellence were presented – the Halls Ford C, Frick Award for broadcasters and the BBWAAs J. G. Taylor Spink Award for writers. The other major Hall of Fame award, the Buck ONeil Lifetime Achievement Award, will not be presented again until at least 2017. On July 26,2014, the Hall announced changes to the rules for election for recently retired players, three candidates presently on the BBWAA ballot in years 10-15 were grandfathered into this system and retained their previous 15 years of eligibility. The code of conduct specifically states that the ballot is non-transferable, violation of the code of conduct will result in a lifetime ban from BBWAA voting. Selected individuals, chosen by a committee, whose last appearance was in 2009. There were 549 total ballots cast and 4623 individual votes for players, all BBWAA members with at least 10 years of continuous membership were eligible to vote. As in most recent elections, the controversy over use of performance-enhancing drugs dominated the election, larkin was indeed elected in 2012, and Maddux, Glavine and Thomas were elected on their first ballot appearance in 2014. Ryan, Brian Shouse, Justin Speier, Julián Tavárez, Ron Villone, Luis Vizcaino, Jamie Walker, Jarrod Washburn, managers and umpires with 10 or more years in baseball and retired for at least five years. Candidates who are 65 years or older are eligible six months following retirement, executives retired for at least five years. Active executives age 65 or older are eligible for consideration, the names of the committee members were released by the Hall of Fame on November 4,2014. The cutoff for election and summer 2015 induction remained the standard 75% and this election marked the second time this era had been considered, Ron Santo was elected by the committee and inducted in 2012. In addition, Joe Torre – another popular candidate from this period – was inducted as a manager in 2014, four of the candidates – Allen, Howsam, Pierce, and Wills – were considered for the first time. Among the holdovers from the 2011 Golden Era balloting were four who received at least half of the votes, Kaat, Hodges, Miñoso. Seven of the candidates were living when the ballot was announced, the exceptions being Hodges, Boyer, the Golden Era Committees 16-member voting electorate, appointed by the Hall of Fames Board of Directors, was announced at the same time as the ballot of 10 candidates

28.
Baseball
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Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of nine players each, who take turns batting and fielding. A run is scored when a player advances around the bases, Players on the batting team take turns hitting against the pitcher of the fielding team, which tries to prevent runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the team who reaches a base safely can later attempt to advance to subsequent bases during teammates turns batting. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the team records three outs. One turn batting for both teams, beginning with the team, constitutes an inning. A game is composed of nine innings, and the team with the number of runs at the end of the game wins. Baseball has no clock, although almost all games end in the ninth inning. Baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century and this game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. By the late 19th century, baseball was widely recognized as the sport of the United States. Baseball is now popular in North America and parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, in the United States and Canada, professional Major League Baseball teams are divided into the National League and American League, each with three divisions, East, West, and Central. The major league champion is determined by playoffs that culminate in the World Series, the top level of play is similarly split in Japan between the Central and Pacific Leagues and in Cuba between the West League and East League. The evolution of baseball from older bat-and-ball games is difficult to trace with precision, a French manuscript from 1344 contains an illustration of clerics playing a game, possibly la soule, with similarities to baseball. Other old French games such as thèque, la balle au bâton, consensus once held that todays baseball is a North American development from the older game rounders, popular in Great Britain and Ireland. Baseball Before We Knew It, A Search for the Roots of the Game, by David Block, suggests that the game originated in England, recently uncovered historical evidence supports this position. Block argues that rounders and early baseball were actually regional variants of other. It has long believed that cricket also descended from such games. The earliest known reference to baseball is in a 1744 British publication, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, David Block discovered that the first recorded game of Bass-Ball took place in 1749 in Surrey, and featured the Prince of Wales as a player. William Bray, an English lawyer, recorded a game of baseball on Easter Monday 1755 in Guildford and this early form of the game was apparently brought to Canada by English immigrants

29.
Major League Baseball
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Major League Baseball is a professional baseball organization, the oldest of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. A total of 30 teams now play in the National League and American League, the NL and AL operated as separate legal entities from 1876 and 1901 respectively. After cooperating but remaining legally separate entities since 1903, the merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball in 2000. The organization also oversees Minor League Baseball, which comprises about 240 teams affiliated with the Major League clubs, with the World Baseball Softball Confederation, MLB manages the international World Baseball Classic tournament. Baseballs first professional team was founded in Cincinnati in 1869,30 years after Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the game of baseball, the first few decades of professional baseball were characterized by rivalries between leagues and by players who often jumped from one team or league to another. The period before 1920 in baseball was known as the dead-ball era, Baseball survived a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, which came to be known as the Black Sox Scandal. The sport rose in popularity in the 1920s, and survived potential downturns during the Great Depression, shortly after the war, baseballs color barrier was broken by Jackie Robinson. The 1950s and 1960s were a time of expansion for the AL and NL, then new stadiums, Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s, and media reports began to discuss the use of anabolic steroids among Major League players in the mid-2000s. In 2006, an investigation produced the Mitchell Report, which implicated many players in the use of performance-enhancing substances, today, MLB is composed of thirty teams, twenty-nine in the United States and one in Canada. Baseball broadcasts are aired on television, radio, and the Internet throughout North America, MLB has the highest season attendance of any sports league in the world with more than 73 million spectators in 2015. MLB is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution and this document has undergone several incarnations since 1875, with the most recent revisions being made in 2012. Under the direction of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB hires and maintains the sports umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, MLB maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of Minor League Baseball. This ruling has been weakened only slightly in subsequent years, the weakened ruling granted more stability to the owners of teams and has resulted in values increasing at double-digit rates. There were several challenges to MLBs primacy in the sport between the 1870s and the Federal League in 1916, the last attempt at a new league was the aborted Continental League in 1960. The chief executive of MLB is the commissioner, Rob Manfred, the chief operating officer is Tony Petitti. There are five other executives, president, chief officer, chief legal officer, chief financial officer. The multimedia branch of MLB, which is based in Manhattan, is MLB Advanced Media and this branch oversees MLB. com and each of the 30 teams websites. Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the league, MLB Productions is a similarly structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media

30.
Starting pitcher
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In baseball, a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponents first batter of a game, a pitcher who enters the game after the first pitch of the game is a relief pitcher. Starting pitchers are expected to pitch for a significant portion of the game, although their ability to do this depends on many factors, including effectiveness, stamina, health, and strategy. A starting pitcher in professional baseball usually rests three, four, or five days after pitching a game before pitching another, therefore, most professional baseball teams have four, five or six starting pitchers on their rosters. These pitchers, and the sequence in which they pitch, is known as the rotation, in modern baseball, a five-man rotation is most common. Under ideal circumstances, a manager of a team would prefer a starting pitcher to pitch as many innings as possible in a game. Often, a pitcher is subject to a pitch count. The most common pitch count for a pitcher is in the neighborhood of 100. Pitch count limits are especially common for starting pitchers who are recovering from injury, in the early decades of baseball, it was not uncommon for a starting pitcher to pitch three hundred innings or more, over the course of a season. In addition, there are accounts of starting pitchers pitching on consecutive days and it is believed that these feats were only possible because pitchers in the early years of the game, unlike modern starters, rarely threw the ball with maximum effort. A starting pitcher who can be counted on to throw many innings is known as a workhorse. An example of a modern-day workhorse pitcher is Roy Halladay, who was the leader in both complete games thrown and shutouts before his retirement in 2013. A starting pitcher must complete five innings of work in order to qualify for a win in a game he starts and it is possible to be credited with a loss despite pitching fewer than five innings. A starter who works six or more innings giving up three or fewer earned runs is said to have achieved a quality start. A starter that finishes the game without having to be relieved by the bullpen is said to have thrown a complete game, the pitcher that throws a complete game is almost always in a position for a win. Starting pitchers usually have a variety of pitches to choose from, fastballs, A pitch thrown hard and which generally follows a mostly straight trajectory. There are a number of different types of fastballs, the 4-seam fastball is the hardest thrown pitch, but also has very little movement or break to it. The 2-seam fastball is slightly slower than the 4-seam, but breaks slightly inward to the throwing arm as well as drop slightly

31.
Greg Maddux
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Gregory Alan Greg Maddux, nicknamed Mad Dog and The Professor, is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. Maddux is best known for his accomplishments while playing for the Chicago Cubs, with the Braves, he won the 1995 World Series over the Cleveland Indians. During those four seasons, Maddux had a 75–29 record with a 1.98 earned run average, Maddux is the only pitcher in MLB history to win at least 15 games for 17 straight seasons. In addition, he holds the record for most Gold Gloves with eighteen, a superb control pitcher, Maddux won more games during the 1990s than any other pitcher and is 8th on the all-time career wins list with 355. Since the start of the post-1920 live-ball era, only Warren Spahn recorded more wins than Maddux. He is one of only 10 pitchers ever to achieve both 300 wins and 3,000 strikeouts, and is the pitcher to record over 300 wins, over 3,000 strikeouts. Since his retirement as a player, Maddux has also served as an assistant to the general manager for both the Cubs and Texas Rangers. On January 8,2014, he was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, in his first year of eligibility, Maddux was born in San Angelo, Texas and spent much of his childhood in Madrid, Spain, where the United States Air Force stationed his father. His father exposed him to baseball at an early age, upon his return to Las Vegas, Nevada, Maddux and his brother Mike Maddux trained under the supervision of Ralph Meder, a former scout from the majors. Meder preached the value of movement and location above velocity, Maddux would later say, I believed it. Though Meder died before Maddux graduated from Valley High School in Las Vegas in 1984, Maddux lives in the same community. While in Las Vegas, he played American Legion Baseball with Post 8 and he was named the organizations Graduate of the Year in 1994. Mike Maddux was drafted in 1982, when scouts went to observe the elder Maddux, their father Dave told them, You will be back later for the little one. Some baseball scouts were unimpressed by Madduxs skinny build, but Chicago Cubs scout Doug Mapson saw past the physique. Mapson wrote a review that read in part, I really believe this boy would be the number one player in the country if only he looked a bit more physical. At the time, Maddux was the youngest player in the majors and his first appearance in a major league game was as a pinch runner in the 17th inning against the Houston Astros. Maddux then pitched in the 18th inning, allowing a run to Billy Hatcher. His first start, five days later, was a game win

32.
Tom Glavine
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Thomas Michael Tom Glavine is an American retired professional baseball player. A pitcher, Glavine played in Major League Baseball for the Atlanta Braves and he was the MVP of the 1995 World Series as the Braves beat the Cleveland Indians. With 164 victories during the 1990s, Glavine earned the second highest number of wins as a pitcher in the National League and he was a five-time 20-game winner and two-time Cy Young Award winner, and one of only 24 pitchers in major league history to earn 300 career wins. On January 8,2014, it was announced that he was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Glavine also played ice hockey alongside baseball. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft, Glavine was born in Concord, Massachusetts and raised in Billerica, Massachusetts. Glavine attended Billerica Memorial High School, where he was an excellent student and he was a four-year member of the honor roll and the National Honor Society. In hockey, as a senior, he was named the Merrimack Valleys Most Valuable Player, in baseball, he led his team to the Division I North Title and the Eastern Massachusetts Championship as a senior. Glavine graduated from school in 1984 with honors. He was elected to the Billerica Memorial/Howe High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993, Glavine was drafted by both the Los Angeles Kings in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft, and the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball organization in the 2nd round of the 1984 amateur baseball draft. Glavine elected to play baseball and made his league debut on August 17,1987. Glavine had mixed results during his first several years in the majors, compiling a 33–43 record from 1987 to 1990 and his fortunes turned around in 1991, when he won 20 games and posted a 2.55 earned run average. It was his first of three seasons with 20 or more wins, and saw him earn his first National League Cy Young Award. Glavine was the ace of the 1991 Braves starting rotation that also included Steve Avery, Charlie Leibrandt, in an era of the diminishing 20-game winner, Glavine became the last major league pitcher to win 20 games in three consecutive years. Atlanta, long thought of as a perennial cellar dweller, was lifted in the 1990s into one of the most successful franchises in the game on the strength of its pitching staff. After the Braves acquired Greg Maddux from the Chicago Cubs in 1993, Glavine, Maddux, among them, they won seven Cy Young Awards during the period of 1991 to 1998. Glavine won his second Cy Young Award in 1998, going 20–6 with a 2.47 ERA, years later, after Glavine joined the Mets and Maddux played for the San Diego Padres, the three all recorded wins on the same day, June 27,2007. The Braves defeated the Cleveland Indians in 6 games in the 1995 World Series and he won two games during that series, Game 2 and Game 6. In Game 6, he pitched eight innings of shutout baseball

33.
National League
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Both leagues currently have 15 teams. The two league champions of 1903 arranged to compete against each other in the inaugural World Series, after the 1904 champions failed to reach a similar agreement, the two leagues formalized the World Series as an arrangement between the leagues. National League teams have won 48 of the 112 World Series contested from 1903 to 2016, the 2016 National League champions are the Chicago Cubs. By 1875, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players was dangerously weak, additionally, Hulbert had a problem—five of his star players were threatened with expulsion from the NAPBBP because Hulbert had signed them to his club using what were considered questionable means. Hulbert had a vested interest in creating his own league. After recruiting St. Louis privately, four western clubs met in Louisville, Kentucky, Boston Red Stockings, the dominant team in the N. A. Hartford Dark Blues from the N. A. Mutual of New York from the N. A. St. Louis Brown Stockings from the N. A, the only strong club from 1875 excluded in 1876 was a second one in Philadelphia, often called the White Stockings or Phillies. The first game in National League history was played on April 22,1876, at Philadelphias Jefferson Street Grounds, 25th & Jefferson, the new leagues authority was tested after the first season. The National League operated with six clubs during 1877 and 1878, over the next several years, various teams joined and left the struggling league. By 1880, six of the eight members had folded. The two remaining original NL franchises, Boston and Chicago, remain in operation today as the Atlanta Braves, in 1883 the New York Gothams and Philadelphia Phillies began National League play. Both teams remain in the NL today, the Phillies in their original city, the NL encountered its first strong rival organization when the American Association began play in 1882. The A. A. played in cities where the NL did not have teams, offered Sunday games and alcoholic beverages in locales where permitted, the National League and the American Association participated in a version of the World Series seven times during their ten-year coexistence. These contests were less organized than the modern Series, lasting as few as three games and as many as fifteen, with two Series ending in disputed ties, the NL won four times and the A. A. only once, in 1886. Starting with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1887, the National League began to raid the American Association for franchises to replace NL teams that folded and this undercut the stability of the A. A. Other new leagues that rose to compete with the National League were the Union Association, the Union Association was established in 1884 and folded after playing only one season, its league champion St. Louis Maroons joining the NL. The NL suffered many defections of star players to the Players League, the Brooklyn, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and New York franchises of the NL absorbed their Players League counterparts. The labor strife of 1890 hastened the downfall of the American Association, after the 1891 season, the A. A. disbanded and merged with the NL, which became known legally for the next decade as the National League and American Association

34.
Relief pitcher
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Relief pitchers are further divided informally into various roles, such as closers, set-up relief pitchers, middle relief pitchers, left/right-handed specialists, and long relievers. A teams staff of relievers is normally referred to metonymically as a teams bullpen, which refers to the area where the relievers sit during games, in the early days of Major League Baseball, substituting a player was not allowed except for sickness or injury. An ineffective pitcher would switch positions with another player on the field, the first relief appearance in the major leagues was in 1876 with Boston Red Caps outfielder Jack Manning switching positions with pitcher Joe Borden. In this early era, relief pitchers changing from a role to the pitchers box in this way were often called change pitchers. This strategy of switching players between the mound and the outfield is still employed in modern baseball, sometimes in long extra inning games where a team is running out of players. In 1889, the first bullpen appearance occurred after rules were changed to allow a player substitution at any time, early relief pitchers were normally starting pitchers pitching one or two innings in between starts. In 1903, during the game of the inaugural World Series. Firpo Marberry is credited with being the first prominent reliever, from 1923 to 1935, he pitched in 551 games,364 of which were in relief. Baseball historian Bill James wrote that Marberry was a modern reliever—a hard throwing young kid who worked strictly in relief, worked often, another reliever, Johnny Murphy, became known as Fireman for his effectiveness when inserted into difficult situations in relief. Nonetheless, the full-time reliever who was entrusted with important situations was more the exception than the rule at this point, often, a teams ace starting pitcher was used in between his starts to close games. Later research would reveal that Lefty Grove would have been in his leagues top three in saves in four different seasons, had that stat been invented at the time, gradually after World War II, full-time relievers became more acceptable and standard. The relievers were usually pitchers that were not good enough to be starters, relievers in the 1950s started to develop oddball pitches to distinguish them from starters. For example, Hoyt Wilhelm threw a knuckleball, and Elroy Face threw a forkball, in 1969, the pitchers mound was lowered and umpires were encouraged to call fewer strikes to give batters an advantage. Relief specialists were used to counter the increase in offense, relievers became more respected in the 1970s, and their pay increased due to free agency. All teams began having a closer, the 1980s were the first time in MLB that the number of saves outnumbered complete games. In 1995, there were nearly four saves for every complete game and it is unclear whether the specialization and reliance on relief pitchers led to pitch counts and fewer complete games, or whether pitch counts led to greater use of relievers. As closers were reduced to one-inning specialists, setup men and middle relievers became more prominent, in past decades, the relief pitcher was merely an ex-starter who came into a game upon the injury, ineffectiveness, or fatigue of the starting pitcher. The bullpen was for old starters who had lost the ability to throw effectively, many of these pitchers would be able to flourish in this diminished role

35.
Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction
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The procedure is common among collegiate and professional athletes in several sports, most notably baseball. The procedure was first performed in 1974 by orthopedic surgeon Frank Jobe and it is named after the first baseball player to undergo the surgery, major league pitcher Tommy John, whose record of 288 career victories ranks seventh all time among left-handed pitchers. The initial operation, Johns successful post-surgery career, and the relationship between the two men is the subject of a 2013 ESPN30 for 30 documentary, at the time of Tommy Johns operation, Jobe put his chances at 1 in 100. In 2009, prospects of a complete recovery had risen to 85–92 percent, following his 1974 surgery, John missed the entire 1975 season rehabilitating his arm before returning for the 1976 season. Before his surgery, John had won 124 games and he won 164 games after surgery, retiring in 1989 at age 46. For baseball players, full rehabilitation takes about one year for pitchers, players typically begin throwing about 16 weeks after surgery. The ulnar collateral ligament can become stretched, frayed, or torn through the stress of the throwing motion. The risk of injury to the throwing athletes UCL is thought to be high as the amount of stress through this structure approaches its ultimate tensile strength during a hard throw. A2002 study examined the throwing volume, pitch type, compared to pitchers who threw 200 or fewer pitches in a season, those who threw 201–400, 401–600, 601–800, and 800+ pitches faced an increased risk of 63%, 181%, 234%, and 161% respectively. The types of pitches thrown showed an effect, throwing a slider was associated with an 86% increased chance of elbow injury. There was only a correlation between throwing mechanics perceived as bad and injury-prone. Research into the area of throwing injuries in young athletes has led to age-based recommendations for pitch limits for young athletes and this injury is often termed Little League elbow and can be serious but does not require reconstructing the UCL. As of April 2015, the amount of time between procedures is 4.97 years. A 3–4 inch surgical incision is made near the elbow, holes to accommodate a replacement graft tendon are drilled in the ulna and humerus bones of the elbow. The ulnar nerve is usually moved to prevent pain as scar tissue can apply pressure to the nerve, the procedure is done on an outpatient basis allowing a return to home the same day, with the arm in a splint to protect the repair for the first week. After one week, a brace is employed to protect the reconstruction for about 6 weeks following surgery, there is a risk of damage to the ulnar nerve. Some baseball pitchers believe they can throw harder after ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction than they did beforehand, Jobe believed that, rather than allowing pitchers to gain speed, the surgery and rehab protocols merely allow pitchers to return to their pre-injury levels of performance. Over the last two decades, the number of UCLR surgeries has increased 3–fold, an expected to rise in upcoming years

36.
Closer (baseball)
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In baseball, a closing pitcher, more frequently referred to as a closer, is a relief pitcher who specializes in getting the final outs in a close game when his team is leading. The role is assigned to a teams best reliever. Before the 1990s, pitchers in similar roles were referred to as a fireman, short reliever, a small number of closers have won the Cy Young Award. Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, Bruce Sutter, a closer is generally a teams best reliever and designated to pitch the last few outs of games when their team is leading by a margin of three runs or fewer. Rarely does a closer enter with their team losing or in a tie game, a closers effectiveness has traditionally been measured by the save, an official Major League Baseball statistic since 1969. Over time, closers have become one-inning specialists typically brought in at the beginning of the inning in save situations. The pressure of the last three outs of the game is cited for the importance attributed to the ninth inning. Closers are often the highest paid relievers on their teams, making money on par with starting pitchers, in the rare cases where a team does not have one primary pitcher dedicated to this role, the team is said to have a closer by committee. New York Giants manager John McGraw in 1905 was one of the first to use a pitcher to save games. He pitched Claude Elliott in relief eight times in his ten appearances, though saves were not an official statistic until 1969, Elliot was retroactively credited with six saves that season, a record at that time. In 1977, Chicago Cubs manager Herman Franks used Bruce Sutter almost exclusively in the eighth or ninth innings in save situations, while relievers such as Rollie Fingers and Goose Gossage were already being used mostly in save situations, Frankss use of Sutter represented an incremental change. Sutter was the first pitcher to start the inning in 20 percent of his career appearances. Clay Carroll in 1972 was the first pitcher to make a third of his seasons appearances in the beginning of the ninth inning, which would not be repeated until Fingers in 1982. John Franco in 1987 was the first to be used over 50 percent of the time in the beginning of the ninth in a season, lee Smith in 1994 was the first to be used over 75 percent of the time in that situation. Tony La Russa while with the Oakland As is frequently named as the innovator of the position, La Russa explained that be ahead a large number of games every week. Thats a lot of work for somebody throwing more than one inning, also, there was the added advantage of not getting overexposed. We tried to get to face three or four batters an outing. Baseball teams often copy one another, following a strategy based on one teams success, in 1990, Bobby Thigpen set a record with 57 saves while breaking Francos one-inning saves record with 41

37.
Dennis Eckersley
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Dennis Lee Eckersley, nicknamed Eck, is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Between 1975 and 1998, he pitched in Major League Baseball for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, and St. Louis Cardinals. Eckersley had success as a starter, but gained his greatest fame as a closer, Eckersley was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004, his first year of eligibility. He is also noted as the pitcher who gave up a dramatic home run to the injured Kirk Gibson in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. He works as a studio analyst for Red Sox games on the NESN network, Eckersley grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, rooting for both the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics. Two of his heroes were the Giants Willie Mays and Juan Marichal. He was a quarterback at Washington High School in Fremont, California until his senior year and he won 29 games as a pitcher at Washington, throwing a 90 miles per hour fastball and a screwball. The Cleveland Indians selected Eckersley in the round of the 1972 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut on April 12,1975 and he was the American League Rookie Pitcher of the Year in 1975, compiling a 13–7 win-loss record and 2.60 Earned run average. His unstyled, long hair, moustache, and live fastball made him an instant, Eckersley pitched reliably over three seasons with the Indians. He threw a no-hitter on May 30,1977 against the California Angels, Two batters reached base in the game, one on a walk in the first inning and the other on a third strike that was a wild pitch. He earned his first All-Star Game selection that year and finished the season with a 14-13 win-loss record, the Indians traded Eckersley and Fred Kendall to the Boston Red Sox for Rick Wise, Mike Paxton, Bo Díaz, and Ted Cox on March 30,1978. Over the next two seasons, Eckersley won a career-high 20 games in 1978 and 17 games in 1979, however, during the remainder of his tenure with Boston, from 1980 to 1984, Eckersley pitched poorly. His fastball had lost some steam, as demonstrated by his 43–48 record with Boston and he later developed a great slider. Eckersley performed poorly in his start for the Cubs in their NL Championship Series with the San Diego Padres. Eckersley remained with the Cubs in 1985, when he posted an 11–7 record with two shutouts, Eckersleys performance deteriorated in 1986, when he posted a 6–11 record with a 4.57 ERA. After the season, he checked himself into a clinic to treat alcoholism. Eckersley noted in Plutos book that he realized the problem he had family members videotaped him while drunk

38.
Andy Pettitte
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Andrew Eugene Andy Pettitte is an American former baseball starting pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball, primarily for the New York Yankees. He also pitched for the Houston Astros, Pettitte won five World Series championships with the Yankees and was a three-time All-Star. He ranks as MLBs all-time postseason wins leader with 19, Pettitte was drafted by the Yankees organization in 1990, and he signed with them roughly a year later. After debuting in the leagues in 1995, Pettitte finished third in voting for the American League Rookie of the Year Award. In 1996, he led the AL with 21 wins and was runner-up for the AL Cy Young Award, Pettitte established himself as one of the Core Four players who contributed to the Yankees late-1990s dynasty that produced four championships. Pettitte won the 2001 American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award in helping his team win the pennant, after spending nine seasons with the Yankees—a stint in which he won at least 12 games each season—Pettitte signed with the Astros in 2004. He rejoined the Yankees in 2007 and later that season admitted to using human growth hormone to recover from an injury in 2002. Pettittes second tenure with the team lasted six seasons, interrupted by a retirement in 2011. Pettittes pitching repertoire includes a four-seam and cut fastball and several off-speed pitches such as a slider, curveball, a left-handed pitcher, he has an exceptional pickoff move to first base, which has allowed him to record 100 career pickoffs as of August 16,2013. Among Yankees pitchers, Pettitte ranks first in strikeouts, third in wins and he won the most games of any pitcher in the 2000s. His number 46 was retired by the Yankees on August 23,2015, Pettitte was born on June 15,1972, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He is of Italian and Cajun descent, and the younger of two born to Tommy and JoAnn Pettitte. He attended Deer Park High School in Deer Park, Texas and his fastball ranged from between 85 to 87 miles per hour. He also played center and nose guard for the football team. The Yankees selected Pettitte in the 22nd round of the 1990 Major League Baseball draft, recruited by San Jacinto College North in Houston, Texas, he opted to play college baseball when coach Wayne Graham compared him to Roger Clemens. As Pettitte enrolled in a college rather than a four-year school. On May 25,1991, he signed with the Yankees, receiving an $80,000 signing bonus, double the Yankees initial offer. In 1991, Pettitte pitched for the Gulf Coast Yankees of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League and Oneonta Yankees of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League, with Oneonta, Pettitte teamed up with catcher Jorge Posada, his longtime batterymate, for the first time

39.
3,000 strikeout club
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In Major League Baseball, the 3,000 strikeout club is the group of pitchers who have struck out 3,000 or more batters in their careers. Walter Johnson was the first to reach 3,000, doing so in 1923, in total,16 pitchers have reached 3,000 strikeouts with John Smoltz, the most recent club member, joining in 2008. Steve Carlton and Randy Johnson are the only left-handed pitchers in this group, Randy Johnson was the quickest pitcher to 3,000 strikeouts, taking fewer games pitched or innings pitched than any other pitcher. César Gerónimo is the player struck out by two different pitchers for their 3, 000th strikeout, first by Gibson in 1974 and then Nolan Ryan in 1980. The Chicago Cubs are one of two franchises to see multiple pitchers record their 3, 000th strikeout on their roster, first Ferguson Jenkins in 1982, ten 3,000 strikeout pitchers are also members of the 300 win club. Membership in the 3,000 strikeout club is often described as a guarantee of entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Randy Johnson, Pedro Martínez, and John Smoltz are the most recently elected individuals, of the sixteen eligible members of the 3,000 strikeout club, fourteen have been elected to the Hall. The two who have appeared on a Hall of Fame ballot but have not yet been elected, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling, each received only about half of the total votes needed for induction, with Schilling earning slightly more votes than Clemens. Clemens future election is seen as uncertain because of his links to use of performance-enhancing drugs. Eligibility requires that a player has been retired five seasons or deceased for at least 6 months, list of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders 300 win club General Specific

40.
Color commentator
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A color commentator is a North American term for a sports commentator who assists the main commentator, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. In other regions this role is referred to as an analyst or summariser. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, the color commentator provides expert analysis and background information, such as statistics, strategy and injury reports on the teams and athletes, and occasionally anecdotes or light humor. Color commentators are often former athletes or coaches of the sport being broadcast, the term color refers to levity and insight provided by a secondary announcer. A sports color commentator customarily works alongside the play-by-play broadcaster, commentary teams typically feature one professional commentator describing the passage of play, and another, usually a former player or coach, providing supplementary input as the game progresses. Additionally, former players and managers appear as pundits, carrying out a role to the co-commentator during the pre-game show preceding a given contest. In American motorsports coverage, there may be as many as two color commentators in the booth for a given broadcast, in the United Kingdom, the term color commentator is relatively unknown, rather the role is called analyst, summarizer, or simply commentator. Cricket coverage on ESPNcricinfo uses similar terminology, in Australia, the term is not used. Those giving the analysis alongside the main commentator are sometimes said to be giving additional or expert analysis, or are special comments, there is no mention or translation to the term color. In Denmark, Norway and Sweden the term ekspertkommentator / expertkommentator is used for a sidekick to the play-by-play announcer. In Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries, the position is known as a comentarista and comentador, respectively, similarly, in Finland kommentaattori is used for the second commentator, and selostaja for the main one. In France, the term for a commentator is consultant. In Italy, the commentator is usually referred to as responsible for the commento tecnico whereas the play-by-play commentator is the main telecronista. In Italy, too, the commentator is usually a person formerly directly involved in the sport. Recent Formula 1 races have no fewer than three commentators, the telecronista, a pilot, and an engineer, the last two sharing the commento tecnico. In Turkey, the term spiker is used for the play-by-play announcer whereas the color commentator is referred to simply as yorumcu, in some countries, the two-person commentating team is not used as much as elsewhere. In Germany, most broadcasts of sports matches traditionally feature a single play-by-play announcer who provides commentary, background information. If the broadcast is on TV, the announcer will usually not comment on visually obvious things, in those cases, a current or former athlete or coach is often used as co-commentator or Experte

A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main commentator, often by filling in …

Main commentator Arsenio Cañada (middle) introduces the basketball game between CB Estudiantes and CB Málaga assisted by two color analysts: Manel Comas (left), former coach, and Juanma Iturriaga (right), former player.